The Southern Fork

Siblings Matt and Ted Lee grew up in Charleston, SC, and when they left to attend colleges, they so missed the foods of their hometown, that they founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order catalogue for Southern pantry staples. When an editor of a travel magazine asked them to write a story about food and their home state, they embarked on a second career as journalists, and that...

It was a packed Friday night event of the 30A Wine Festival in Alys Beach, FL, and I expected to see a tired and slightly frazzled Chef Drew Dzejak "in the weeds," to use an f&b term -- he had a line where people were waiting close to 40-minutes for his grilled goodies. Instead, I came upon a chef giddy with delight in the moment, eager to share how good everything was tasting, and who looked as i...

Let's be honest. Many of us forget about soup kitchens or homeless meal programs until the holidays, when we might consider volunteering or donating resources. But Chef Angie DuPree thinks about that kind of work every day -- it's her job. She is the Culinary Trainer Director at One80 Place in Charleston, SC. Angie not only coordinates a food rescue program that helps serve 500 clients a day at th...

Since opening his restaurant City Grocery in Oxford, Ms. more than 20 years ago, Chef John Currence's name has become synonymous with Southern cooking. He's received the Southern Foodways Alliance Guardian of Tradition Award, he's won the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef South, and he's often a sought after writer -- just ask Garden & Gun , his book editors, or Esquire . City Grocery Res...

You know, you never know what can happen over a good dinner. Over some seriously delicious food and cocktails at The Dabney in Washington, D.C. this past December, I asked Bonnie Benwick, deputy food editor and recipe editor of The Washington Post , if she'd like to be on the podcast. And just like that, she agreed. Bonnie joined the staff of the Post in 1989 and worked on the desks in Style, Metr...

I first met Johnny Caldwell and Taneka Reaves, known in the biz as The Cocktail Bandits , more than four years ago in Charleston at a tequila event, of course. Since then, we've sipped and cheered glasses many times in Charleston and beyond. They came out to cheer me on when I was nominated for best food podcast at The Saveur Blog Awards a couple of years ago. I've watched with awe as they have be...

It's the finale of Season 3! I share some of favorite places to visit from 2018, some things to think about when you travel with a fork, some shout outs (of course), and some news about next season, which begins March 2019. 

There's a lot of bad news coming out of Washington, DC these days. Hear about the city, and it's easy to feel negatively. But that's the opposite reaction I have when I think of this city, full of vibrant restaurants, and one of the best places to start your day, or take a lunch, is just over the line in Arlington, VA. Bayou Bakery is a slice of New Orleans helmed by chef/owner David Guas, someone...

Seems everyone has made New Year's resolutions. This year, my little mini suggestion in this mini episode is to pay attention to your ice. Yep, you heard me. Ice. It can mean the difference between a perfect cocktail and one that is too watery (or too strong), and it adds to the allure of a perfectly made drink. Jayce McConnell, beverage maestro of Edmund's Oast in Charleston and co-host of the Po...

The forecast said rain and wind in earlier December when I went out on the Chesapeake with the men of Wild Divers Oyster Co . But the day instead dawned very clear and calm, though still cold, and as Nick Hargrove and Derek Wilson boated us out to an oyster bed close to the dock, shore birds flitted across the sky and the sun sparkled across the water. Then Derek suited up, dove down and soon Nick...

What makes a magical meal? Well, the fact that wine has been present at some of the most memorable meals in history doesn't escape Jordan Mackay . I've been fortunate enough to sit in two wine seminars with this James Beard award winning writer, and this time, I finally got the courage to ask him -- over a glass of wine of course -- if he'd be a guest on the show. His writing may be familiar to yo...

Listen to Chef Kenny Gilbert for any length of time, and you'll realize that he sees cooking through the lens of relationships: from co-workers and employers, to diners and the family that often inspires his food. Speaking of lenses, Kenny Gilbert became more of a household name from his time spent in front of a camera lens for Top Chef Season Seven -- the one in DC -- and although he didn't win t...

I've picked up and put down a lot of things in my life from jobs and ideas, to locales and loves and whatever I thought was the next big thing. This is a story of the opposite, of the power of doing one thing as best as you can for as long as you can. For most of his career, master craftsman Allan Benton of Benton's Country Hams and Bacon  worked in obscurity in an unassuming building in the Blue...

Listen to the lilt of this Lowcountry accent. Chef BJ Dennis is Gullah Geechie, part of the descendants of Central and West Africans who came from different ethnic and social groups. Originally enslaved together on the isolated sea and barrier islands from Pender County, North Carolina to St. John's County, Florida and for 30 miles inland, over time, these people developed the creole Gullah Geeche...

If you've ever been on untapped, rate my beer, or otherwise thought about standing in line for a beer release, then listen up, beloved beer nerds, this episode is for you! Cameron Read is the Director of Brewing Operations for Edmund's Oast Brewing Company in Charleston, SC, and so yes, he just might have what many consider to be a dream job. Edmund's Oast is becoming a force in brewing in the US,...

Growing up Southern, hurricanes are a part of life. You know the season, the categories, and you know that just because you can't see the ocean does not mean you won't see a hurricane's effects. But things have changed in the past few years -- it feels like it's become more about capturing those ratings rather than sharing realistic information, and so things are beginning to skew. Not only are we...

Chef Nico Romo left Charleston's Patrick Properties about a year before any allegations of sexually suggestive behavior came out about its now-removed CEO. Nico stood beside those who raised the allegations and was one of the named sources in The Post and Courier story that broke the news earlier this year. He was in the midst of a weeks-old restaurant and could have easily been too busy, but Nico...

Chef Katie Button and I spoke a few months ago at the FAB Conference in Charleston, but I've held onto this interview a bit because only a couple weeks after it, Katie gave birth 5 weeks early to a little boy. Mom, son, and the whole family are doing splendidly, and life is returning to normal for them, which means her husband and business partner Felix is in Spain right now with Curate Trips (che...

I've always been a sucker for pharmacies, apothecaries, and perfume counters. I just can't get enough of those little bottles and the treasures and tinctures they hold, so part of the fun of visiting a craft cocktail joint for me is looking at all the bottles at the bar. Bitters are always present, but in recent years, the number of brands of these somewhat mysterious concoctions have exploded, an...

I recently moved to a new neighborhood, and in a move, it becomes painfully apparent how many books one has. These days, I have multiple shelves of cookbooks, and many people have asked me if I'll ever write one. The answer is not for now, as I don't enjoy creating recipes nearly as much as making them. Sandra Gutierrez is completely different. A nationally recognized food personality, cookbook au...

Today, it's time to call it. I'm tired of hearing it. Some of you need to stop saying that modernist cuisine isn't "real food." That's just damn silly, and, frankly, it sounds like a lot of ignorance to me. Here at The Southern Fork, just because I love macaroni and cheese and barbecue and my granny's green beans that have cooked all day does not mean I can't also love composed dishes of ingredien...

There is a place where there are no TVs blaring, a place where it's easy to exchange a word with people at the next table or scrape that last bit of dessert off the plate with a spoon. This restaurant glows softly in the twilight as you approach, and yet, open the door, and it's a-bustle with activity. This magical spot? Chez Nous in Charleston, S.C., and it's got way more chops that just its good...

It's summer, I get it. So why are you doing a coffee show right now Steph, you may ask? Because it's not just coffee, it's cool, refreshing Arabica Soda , made from Cascara fruit and coffee and meant to be a welcome lift anytime but especially welcome as we enter these dog days of summer. Michael Mai, master barista and now bartender, is the man behind this delicious beverage. You might remember h...

The first time my eyes beheld Kat Kinsman was on my TV screen. There was this woman chatting about food on CNN, and she seemed goth? I thought, how good do you have to be to a CNN food reporter? and a food reporter allowed to express your own style on a mainstream news outlet? Well, the answer is pretty damn good. Kat Kinsman is the former managing editor of CNN's Eatocracy who now is the food and...

Chef Eddie Hernandez and I really thought it was a good idea. We really liked the idea of chatting on a warm spring day on the enclosed, empty patio at the Howell Mill Road location of Taqueria Del Sol in Atlanta. The birds were so peaceful, we said, and it's quiet out here, we said. But there is nothing quiet in the world of Eddie Hernandez. This energetic man has been going full tilt since the a...